About Me

Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

I really like the term Off-Off Broadway. Always have. I don't mind Independent or Indie Theater as a label or new branding... but I've always liked the historical associations with "Off-Off Broadway." Maybe I'm just a traditionalist. It just never bothered me.

Here's a press release for an exciting new idea. Give it a read. I think it articulates some bold thinking and some real challenges that we're facing in NYC.

Might I add that I still think the Showcase Code causes some of these problems?

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ANNOUNCING THE LEAGUE OF INDEPENDENT THEATER FUND
OFF-OFF ADVOCACY GROUP CREATES NEW FUNDING MODEL

KICK OFF PARTY AND STRATEGY SESSION AT THE LIVING THEATER, MONDAY FEB. 27 7:00 PM
FOLLOWED BY SPECIAL ENCORE PRESENTATION OF JUDITH MALINA’S HISTORY OF THE WORLD.

For over sixty years, Off-Off Broadway (now known as Independent
Theater) has provided a haven for New York City theater artists and
served as a cauldron and cradle for new and innovative American theater.
This sector has grown beyond a “starting place” for many artists and
now provides the artistic home for over 10,000 individuals and 300
companies. But this civic treasure is threatened. The economic
realities of New York City have forced many artists and companies to
leave New York. Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Des Moines and many
other cities are poised to replace New York as the center of new
American theater. We refuse to lose this historic, cultural and civic
treasure. We are beginning an annual, reliable funding pool for the
independent theater territory. And it only costs a nickel.

We call on all independent theater companies, artists and venues to join
us in this effort. As always, we recognize that we are strongest and
most effective when we work together and while our individual bank
accounts may be small, our collective resources are substantial.

Judith Malina of the Living Theater says: “The League of Independent
Theater represents a coming together of actual artistic and theatrical
forces that may yet undo the difficulty of our times in maintaining the
highest artistic standards in a period of economic crisis. Who can save
us from the downhill trend of our economy except the vigor of our arts?
Theatre, music and education are our only hopes to lift our times
beyond their despair and create a viable, prosperous culture.”

Elena Holy, Producing Artistic Director of FringeNYC says: "The Present
Company is always proud to be a part of anything that involves indie
theatre artists supporting each other. The New York International Fringe
Festival (FringeNYC) was forged on our collective indie traditions of
self-sufficiency, creativity, and working together. This new fund builds
on that idea and puts it into action across our entire community - its
potential impact is extraordinarily exciting."

This is the first phase of this funding initiative.

We call on the League of American Theaters and Producers to join the
cause and help us to support, sustain and strengthen the independent
theater community in New York City. The Broadway League has a long
history of supporting charitable efforts that benefit the theatrical
community and with this initiative they will take the lead in addressing
the exodus of young theater professionals and companies from New York
City as well as recognizing the national cultural treasure that is the
Off-Off Broadway territory. With a five cent surcharge on each ticket
sold to a Broadway show, (which is .0057 of the average ticket price or
about five hundredths of a percent) we can create an immediate, annual
fund for small theater in New York.

In 2010, Broadway attendance was 12,106,105. If the Independent Theater
Fund was in effect in 2010, the independent theater community would
have just over $605,000.00 to maintain and upgrade venues, provide
scholarships for promising writers, directors, designers and performers
and mount a high-visibility city-wide marketing campaign for all of the
independent theater productions in the city.
The initial allocation of funds has yet to be determined, but areas under discussion include:
- Real Estate Fund (Money for venue renovation and repair, equipment
upgrade, etc. Also, a Seed Money Fund will be created for real estate
purchase.)
- Project Grants (Money to create shows.)
- Individual Grants (Money for independent theater artists and practitioners.)

We call on all theaters and companies in New York to join the Fund.

The League of Independent Theater is the advocacy organization for
Off-Off Broadway. We are dedicated to promoting and strengthening the
artistic and economic interests of our members, organizing and
protecting our members to ensure that independent theater is
economically viable for all of its practitioners and to advocate on
behalf of the decades-old tradition of Off-Off Broadway. For more
information, visit www.litny.org.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Readers are informed that Mike Daisey will release the full text of his incredibly famous and massively influential monologue for free, and not ask for royalties when it is performed.

The real story is in the final quote from Daisey:

"He also hopes that the free transcript will bring the monologue to
another destination: “I have not managed to get this show to Broadway,
but if someone else wants to try, more power to them.”

How is it possible that The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs is not Broadway bound? Among its list of accomplishments are inspiring the most downloaded episode in the history of This American Life; changing the consciousness of the press about how beloved Apple does business; forcing Apple to actually change its corporate policies; making all of us take a good long look at what we're prepared to accept in order to get comfort and fun. This piece is at the heart of the cultural dialogue. It speaks to uniquely American issues like sending jobs overseas, our love of technology, our blinders when it comes to costs and capitalism, and our deification of those we admire. It's all we hope theater can be: stripped down, personal, immediate, essential, truthful.

How is it that Spider Man has more of a place on Broadway than Mike Daisey? What relationship does Broadway actually have to the finest work of American theater artists anymore?

Monday, February 13, 2012

I've recently written two drafts of a play called Traveling to Montpelier, which is a follow up to 2008's When Is A Clock. Sort of the same 'universe' and rules, characters in relationship to the original story.

After two drafts, I actually have decided that the third draft will be starting entirely from scratch, keeping nothing from the original version.

It's the first time I've ever done this. I usually figure there's something salvageable from the initial drafts and impulses. I don't, in fact, think that what I've already written doesn't work. I just gave the whole thing a fair amount of thought and realized it's not really a play I'd be jazzed to sit through. It's got characters and ideas and even some okay writing. I just don't, you know, enjoy it myself. Hard to fix that problem with tweaks.

The Brick announces it's ever-changing and ever-intriguing Summer Theater Festival theme. This one involves a great deal of crowd-sourcing and voting and such.

From their website:

In an election year, it is important for all U.S. citizens to do
their patriotic duty. For that reason, The Brick is extending its annual
Summer Theme Festival Series with DEMOCRACY, an experiment in
civic curation that asks audiences to vote for the shows that will
participate in our traditional June festival. From there, they will
compete with each other during a runoff election cycle in June to
determine who will win the title of President of The Brick.

Interested candidates must fill out a Campaign Registration Form (see below) in order to be eligible for the Primary Election, which will be held on Tuesday, March 20.
Candidates are also required to create a campaign ad (to be hosted on
The Brick's YouTube page) and send a representative to The Brick for a
live Primary Debate on Sunday, March 18, where they will
be allowed to plead their case before the public. Primary voting will
take place online and be open to everyone on the Internet. The 12 shows
with the most votes will be invited to take part in the General Election in June, where they will compete with each other to be elected President of The Brick, for a term beginning in January 2013.

Over the course of June, the candidates involved in the General Election will each have no fewer than four Public Appearances
(i.e., performances) at which to bring their case directly to the
voters, along with multiple other events and online campaigns that
leverage social media, endorsements from prominent political and
artistic figures, etc. The General Election cycle will conclude on Sunday, July 1, with live voting that will take place exclusively in-person at The Brick, at the end of which the winner will be announced prior to a gala celebration.

While the open election process forbids us from declining candidates
based on race, creed, sexual orientation, subject matter, etc., we do
encourage candidates whose Public Appearances will be most concerned with the themes of Democracy
– its history, its process, our great country's past, present and
future, and all related subject matter and ideas pertaining to the word
itself and the concept of popular government.